Dangerous Secrets
by ajoy
Summary: There’s more to the Curtises car accident than first meets the eye. The answers lie with Emily, the Curtis’ adopted daughter. When Darry’s life is also threatened, Emily has to open the painful doors to her past if she wants to save his life
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

Emily lay quietly in bed, staring up at the eerie shadows the moonlight cast on her ceiling. She'd been lying that way for some time, listening to her mother pack and move about the house in a strange way. As soon as Emily had gotten home that afternoon she had known something was wrong. Then at night her mother had tucked her into bad and whispered "I love you" in such a strange way that Emily had not been able to get the words out of her mind. She hadn't understood.

But now she did. Now, as she heard her mother softly close and lock the front door, as she heard the motor of her mom's car start up and then fade into the distance; now she understood. Her mommy had left her and was never coming back. Oh, she hadn't said that, but Emily knew that she would never see her mother again.

A tear tricked down her right cheek and she brushed it away. "Mommy's not coming back Maggie." She whispered to her doll, trying to understand the situation as best as her five-and-a-half year old mind could.

She pushed back her blanket and sat up slowly. "What now Maggie?" The doll offered no response and Emily knew that she would have to come up with the answer on her own.

"Warm milk is what I need. Warm milk always makes things better." At least, that's what Mommy had always told her. Emily slid to the floor and peered out her bedroom door into the hallway. The little moon-shaped nightlight had must have burned out because all she could see was darkness, and Emily hated going down the hall when it was dark.

"Well I can't stay here." Talking out loud broke some of the unwelcome silence. "There's a light in the kitchen, I can make it that far because I'm five and a half now." And with that she hurried down the hall and into the kitchen. She stood on tip-toes, arm stretched, to reach the switch. Once light flooded the room she felt much better.

Next to the table sat a suitcase with a note taped to the top. She read the note curiously:

_My Dearest Emily Rose_

_I have to go my darling. I wish I could take you with me, but I cannot. You must understand. I want you to take this suitcase and go stay with the Curtis'. Mrs. Curtis can be your new mommy. She will take care of you like I have. I'll come back and get you if I can, you know that. You be a good girl, and keep Mommy's secrets ok? Hugs and Kisses for my little girl._

Emily re-read the letter, memorizing it, before tearing it into little pieces. This letter was special, just for her, and she didn't want anyone else to look at it. Then she stood, transfixed, for quite a long time. She did not WANT a new mommy, she wanted her old mommy. But what had happened had happened and Emily couldn't change it. But oh how she wished her mommy had at least told her where she was going. And why couldn't she take Emily along? She always took Emily places with her. It probably had to do with those two men that had come the other day.

"Go stay with the Curtises." The note had said. Emily looked up at the clock situated over the stove. 12:45. Now would probably not be a good time to announce her arrival. She would wait until morning. But that was quite a ways away.

"I was wanting warm milk." She reminded herself bluntly, but as she glanced at the sink she noticed all of their supper dishes were still there, unwashed.

"If I'm going to live with the Curtises, then someone else is going to live here." She frowned thoughtfully. "And the house really should look neat when they come." So forgetting the milk, she pushed a chair over to the sink and began filling it, just the way Mommy had taught her.

As she washed the dishes she began to think about what her life would be like living with the Curtis family. Emily really liked Mrs. Curtis. She had very beautiful eyes and a very kind voice. Everything about Mrs. Curtis was beautiful, but Emily would not call her Mommy. She would simply call her Mom, so the two wouldn't get mixed up.

Mr. Curtis was just a tiny bit daunting because of his size, but he was full of fun. He didn't remind Emily anything of her own Father, but she liked him just the same. He would tell her lots of stories and give her big, squeezing hugs.

Emily loved the hugs that felt like she was going to suffocate because they were so strong and made her feel safe.

Then there were the boys - her new brothers. Darry was the oldest and was very sensible. He was always telling Emily practical things and trying to boss around his brothers. He didn't boss her around much though, he usually did what she asked him to do because he liked her.

When she thought about her next two brothers, she smiled to herself. Sodapop and Ponyboy. She had known someone named Darry, but she had never known anyone named Sodapop or Ponyboy before. She liked their names, especially Sodapop's. Sometimes she would amuse herself by saying his name over and over, smacking her lips together at the end to form a popping sound. Once she had shared her joy with Ponyboy and the two had sat popping Soda's name, seeing who could make the biggest and loudest pops. It had been great fun until Darry had turned and told them to "Stop popping or I'll pop you!"

Emily repeated Soda's name in this manner now and made a pop that she was sure could beat Pony's any day. To Emily, Soda was the exact image of his mother. She loved how much he smiled and joked and had fun. Ponyboy was closest to her age, maybe she would share a room with him. That might be fun. Then they could lay awake all night and read books together.

Emily rinsed the last dish and then started the process of putting them all away. She had to crawl along the counters to reach the cupboards, but Mommy had never minded when she did this. After the kitchen was clean she went through the rest of the tiny house, picking up small messes here and there.

She saved her Mommy's bedroom for last and entered in with a seeming awe. The first thing she noticed was the blue and white quilt spread neatly over her mother's bed. It was strange, Emily thought, that her mommy had taken such pains to neatly make her bed when she had left the rest of the house such a mess. Across from the bed was a little vanity table. Emily looked in the mirror and tried to see herself as someone else might.

A plain little girl with black hair that waved loosely to her shoulders. A girl with dark skin and dark brown eyes, outlined by dark, thick lashes. Emily had always wished she could have had blue eyes, or green, or some other shade that would give her face a spark of color. Her nose was small and straight and her chin was more square than round. The only thing she liked about herself were the tiny dimples that appeared on either side of her mouth when she smiled. There were times that she refused to smile because she wanted to keep them hidden.

Her gaze moved from her face to the rest of her. She wore one of her father's old red T-shirts that had "Navajo" written in white letters across the front. It was her favorite shirt because it reminded her of how proud her daddy had been of being an Indian. She took note that the shirt came to the middle of her knees. A stranger wouldn't know, but that was how she knew how much she was growing. When daddy had given her the shirt, it had covered her knees completely.

Emily picked up her mommy's perfume bottle and sprayed herself, turning this way and that, the way she had seen her mommy do it. The fragrance that filled the room also filled her soul with sadness and regret. It reminded her too much of the lady that was never coming back, and she should have known better. Setting the bottle down, she noticed that her hair had a rather nasty tangle in the back.

"It won't do to go over to the Curtis' house looking like that." she said and picked up the brush.

"Oh dear. Mommy forgot her brush." Emily shook her head slightly. She loved her mommy, but sometimes she didn't remember things too good. "I wonder if she remembered to pack my brush. I better go and see."

Which was a good thing, as it turned out, because her mommy hadn't remembered to pack her a toothbrush or any socks either. "I don't need socks right now, Mommy, but I will need them this fall and I don't want to wear any of Ponyboy's."

She placed the few items into her suitcase, retrieved Maggie from her own bed, and returned to her mommy's bedroom, again looking at herself in the mirror. She looked the same as she always did and not at all like a child who had just lost her mommy. No real solution had come to mind about handling the situation so she crawled into the middle of her mommy's bed and thought.

Some girls, she supposed, would have become upset, crying and moaning and feeling sorry for themselves. One of Emily's friends had been that way but it had only seemed to make the girl more miserable than ever. Other girls, the spoiled ones, would have thrown a fit for things not going the way they wanted. Emily had tried that once, but her daddy had only looked at her strangely and told her to stop acting like a child. And besides, there wasn't anyone around to hear.

_The past is the past Emily my girl. _Her father's words rang in her head. _Chin up, things won't be so bad. _She gave a little pout and then thought better of it. "I'll just have to pretend. You stay here Maggie, I'll be right back"

By now, Emily had just about every light on in the house, so she didn't have to fear the hallway. She retrieved a book from her room and padded back to her mom's.

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed, she flipped through the book until she found just the right page.

"See here, Maggie. This house on the beach. That's my house. Well, it's not my house yet, but it's Daddy's house and someday I'm going to be there with him. And see those two people. That's Mommy and Daddy. Daddy's very glad Mommy's there with him now. Someday I'm going to be there and we're going to build sandcastles and go fishing and….."

It was with these thoughts that Emily drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO **

"Sodapop, go get the door for me will you honey? It's probably Emily"

Ten year old Soda ran to do his mother's bidding, making sure Ponyboy couldn't beat him to it.

He flung open the door and saw little Emily with a rather large suitcase. "Hi-ya Emily!" He nearly shouted. "What's the suitcase for?"

She drug the too-heavy case over the threshold. "It's for me. I'm going to live here now."

"You're going to need more than a suitcase if you're going to live here silly."

Emily's eyes were wide. "I AM?"

Soda laughed at the girl's story. He loved the way she was always making up stories and games. This was a new one though.

Having heard the noise, Ponyboy came bounding into the room. "Hi Emily! Guess what? Mom said we could go to the library today. Hey…what's in your suitcase. Did you bring some new books?" Even though Emily was two years

younger than Pony, she could read almost as well. Sometimes the two would read for hours, much to Soda's chagrin.

"No, it's clothes. I'm going to live here now." Emily stated again, matter-of-factly.

"Oh right." Ponyboy said, also thinking this was a new game. "Then I'll pack my suitcase too and we can run off and be pirates and have sword fights and search for buried treasures. Defend yourself you land lover." He cried, pulling out an imaginary sword and swinging at Soda.

The sword fight quickly turned into a wresting match, the two rolling back and forth across the floor.

Emily rolled her eyes slightly, wondering why they wouldn't take her seriously.

"Hey you two better hurry up and figure out who wins." Mrs. Curtis called, "We're going to leave in five minutes.

"I win." Soda shouted, sitting triumphantly on his brother's chest. "Hey Mom, if you guys are going to the library, can I please go to Steve's house?" Not only did Soda find the library boring, but he was supposed to be still and quiet, which were two things he hated most.

"I want you to get at least one book Sodapop, you didn't get one last week." This wasn't an issue Mrs. Curtis pushed during the school year, but during the summer she liked her boys to read at least one book a week.

"But Mom…" Soda started to protest but could tell by the look on his mother's face that it wouldn't do any good.

"I'll get you a book." Ponyboy piped up, still lying beneath his brothers knees.

"NO!" The last time Pony had suggested such a thing he had brought home a boring, 200-something page book that Soda thought he would NEVER get through. Pony had said it was one of his favorites but Soda had sworn never to let Pony pick out a book again.

"If I get one book, then can I go to Steve's?"

"We'll see what his mother says. Now let your brother up Soda, he needs to brush his hair before he leaves."

Soda got off but rubbed Pony's hair vigorously before letting him go.

"Emily, do you want to show me what's in your suitcase?" Mrs. Curtis asked sweetly.

Emily just shrugged. "It's just some clothes."

"Oh? Why did you bring over a bunch of clothes. Are they too small for you?"

"She thinks she's going to live here now, but she doesn't know what she's talking about." Soda remarked.

"I do SO." Emily was offended. She knew good and well what she was doing. "I AM going to live here because Mommy went away."

"Yes dear, but your Mommy's coming back, after work." Mrs. Curtis reminded her.

"No she isn't." Emily mumbled. "I'm going to live here now." And for a brief moment Emily felt frightened that the Curtises may not want her. Hadn't her Mommy talked to them about it?

"Who's going to live here?" Darry wanted to know as he caught the end of Emily's sentence. To him, Emily was the little sister he had always wanted but never had. They'd bonded immediately and he would defend her with his life.

"Emily is." Ponyboy answered this time. "But not really."

"I am to." Emily's voice startled all the boys. It was calm, but it had the firmness that their father's voice had when he was upset.

Even Mrs. Curtis was alarmed by Emily's firmness. The child liked to make up stories, but she didn't lie. "Why don't you tell us why you think you're going to live here."

Someone is finally listening to me Emily thought. "Mommy left me a note that said to come live with you, that's why." And, as if that settled the matter, she drug her suitcase down the hall towards Pony's room.

All three of the boys turned their attention towards Mrs. Curtis.

"Do you think she's telling the truth Mom?" Darry asked. At thirteen, he was old enough to realize how serious the situation could be if she was.

"I'm really not sure dear. I think I'll go and call her mother's work. Maybe they just had a bit of a fight this morning. You boys run along and play, we may have to go to the library another day.

Ponyboy pouted, but Soda was ecstatic. "YES! No library!"

Darry hung back, listening to his mother's conversation.

"Is Mrs. Andrews there? This is her neighbor, Margret Curtis…..Yes?….Oh I see….That does seem odd…yes, I'll check on it….thank you. Goodbye."

"Is everything ok Mom?"

Mrs. Curtis was startled by her oldest son's question. "I'm not sure Darry. I know you were planning on doing things today but could you stay here for a while? I want to make sure everything is alright with Mrs. Andrews."

"Staying here" wasn't really how Darry wanted to spend his Saturday, but the whole ordeal was perplexing and he hoped his mother could figure it out soon. "Yeah, I can stay."

After checking the house and finding it empty, Mrs. Curtis carefully drove along each possible rout on the way to the Christine's work. She found no signs of an accident and became very troubled. Christine Andrews and her daughter Emily had moved into the neighborhood nearly a year ago, after the death of Christine's husband. They had become good friends and Mrs. Curtis had agreed to watch Emily while Christine worked. She was a very diligent mother and it was unlike her to go off and leave Emily alone the way she had.

She would have to call the police.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
**

It was early the next morning when Mrs. Curtis answered the phone, receiving news about Christine. Her car had been found in a ditch at the side of the interstate heading down towards Texas. It appeared she had died shortly after impact. The cause of the accident was still under investigation and they would be sending someone out shortly to see what information they could gather from Mrs. Andrew's house. The whole Curtis family would also be questioned so they needed to remain home until then.

Margret listened as the man on the other side of the line continued on. When he mentioned finding Emily's relatives to contact, she silently hoped they wouldn't be able to. She loved Emily like her own boys and would hate to see her taken off to live with someone she barely knew.

Within thirty minutes, three police cars had pulled up to Christine's house. Ponyboy and Soda watched excitedly from the front window. They really wanted to go outside and watch, but Mr. Curtis insisted they stay in, knowing good and well that they would find some sort of mischief to get into if they didn't.

"I can't believe we're gonna be interviewed by REAL cops." Ponyboy said. "Don't you think that's neat Darry?"

"Not really. And besides, it's Emily they want to talk to, not us." Darry realized the seriousness of the matter, dashing whatever excitement it would have brought otherwise, which wasn't much in his opinion. He could think of many better ways to spend his Sunday than sitting at home waiting for the fuzz to ask a few questions.

"Now Darryl." Mrs. Curtis scolded. "They did say they wanted to talk to all of us. Let your little brother have some excitement."

"Yes Ma'am" was his mumbled reply.

It was nearly two hours before one of the cops finally knocked on their door. "You boys behave now." Was Mr. Curtis' rebuke as he opened the door.

The man introduced himself as Officer James Core, special investigator. Most of his questions were directed towards Margret and Darryl. How long had they know Ms. Andrews? What was she like? What type of relationship did she have with her daughter? Had she said anything about her husband or any other relatives? Where had she moved from?

Margret tried to answer as best she could. They had met Christine about eight months ago when she moved next door. She was such a sweet lady and within a month, Margret was watching Emily while Christine worked. She worked hard, but still had a wonderful relationship with Emily and always went to great lengths to take care of her. It was completely unlike her to just up and leave. They thought she had moved from Arizona, maybe, but she had never talked about her husband - or any other relative. And to their knowledge, she'd never had any visitors.

As far as the boys were concerned, the list of questions drug on endlessly. Soda, particularly, had a hard time obeying his father's command to behave and decided to say so.

"Dad, do we really have to sit here? He's not asking us anything?"

"Sodapop…."

James interrupted. He had noticed the three sitting on the couch, trying to be still and felt slightly sorry for them. "How about I ask you a few questions, and then you can go? You've been plenty patient already."

He moved from the kitchen table to the couch. "What can you boys tell me about Emily and her mom? Did Emily get along with her mom, seem to like her ok?"

"Oh sure, she talked about her mom all the time. Sometimes she got mad at her, but not often." Ponyboy was quick to reply.

"What about her dad? Did she ever talk about him?"

Three heads answered no.

"Did she talk about any other relatives?"

Again, no.

"Did she talk about where she moved from?"

"Come to think of it, Officer," Darry said. "I don't think Emily ever told us any memories of anything. She always talked about the present. She rarely even talked about the future.

James found that very interesting. Most young children Emily's age talked a lot about the past and special events coming up. There were only a few more questions asked and then James told the boys they could go. Soda was only allowed outside if Darry would keep an eye on him. Pony opted to stay, still fascinated by having an officer in their house. It made him feel important.

"Where is Emily?" James asked, standing up.

"In her room. She hasn't come out a whole lot today. Do you want me to get her?"

"May I go in there instead? It might be more comfortable for her."

"Sure" Mrs. Curtis led James to the room Emily had shared with Ponyboy.

"Emily, this is Officer Core. He needs to ask you some questions and I want you to answer them ok?"

Emily looked up at the tall man and noted his face. He had brown hair and brown eyes and, like her, lacked the spark of color. But he looked kind enough so she nodded and went back to brushing out Maggie's hair.

James Core sat on the floor across from Emily. "I hear you just had a birthday young lady. How old are you?"

"Five and a half."

A smile played at his mouth. "Really? I have a daughter who is six."

Emily looked up, "Does she like to read?"

"Sometimes. Though she prefers to have us read to her still. Do you like to read Emily?"

"Yep." And she pointed to a book lying off to the side.

A chapter book, James noted. She must be a fairly advanced reader to be interested in chapter books. "Emily, I'd like to ask you some questions about your Mommy, would that be ok?"

Realizing it was more of a statement than a question, Emily nodded mutely and scooted across the floor to her coloring book.

James took a deep breath. Talking to children in situations like this was one of his main jobs. It wasn't pleasant, but often times it took special questions and knowledge for children to open up and give helpful insight. He had more experience than anyone else in his department.

"Emily, your mother…..your mother isn't coming back."

"I know." Emily flipped open to a page with a cat playing with a butterfly.

"You know? Did she tell you?"

"Yes. Well, no. She left me a note. What color do you think I should make the cat? I can't tell if it should be an orange cat or a gray one."

"It looks like a gray cat." James answered patiently, knowing it was importance not to dismiss all such remarks. "Could I see the note your mother left you?" He asked as she picked up a gray and began meticulously coloring

within the lines.

"I don't have it. I threw it away."

"I see." Yes, it was going to take some work to get this little girl to give answers that would be helpful.

"Could you tell me what the note said?"

She scrunched up her face before replying, "It said to be good, and that I was supposed to bring my suitcase over here and Mrs. Curtis would be my new Mom."

"But what about your old Mom, won't you miss her."

Emily lifted her head and connected her eyes with the officer's. "Would that bring her back?"

Her question was so sincere, so completely honest and expecting that he was startled. "Well…um….no, it wouldn't"

She dropped her gaze back to her coloring book. "Then no. I'm going to have fun here now."

James had heard a lot of answers and seen a lot of emotions, but he had never seen a child act as nonchalant as this. According to everyone in the Curtis family, Emily had been very close to her mother, it wasn't as if she was in a bad situation. So why the lack of concern? He recalled what Darry had said about living in the present and wondered if her way of coping was to block out all of the past.

"Did the note say where she was going?"

"Nope.

He had no reason to believe she was lying. If her mother went off and left, she probably wouldn't have told Emily where. He decided to see what Emily could tell him about her dad. They hadn't come up with any living relatives on her

mother's side and still had no name for her father.

"Can you tell me about your Dad Emily?"

She shrugged half-heartedly. Mommy had told her to keep their secrets. While she wasn't exactly sure what all that referred to, she was pretty sure her dad was one of them.

"Do you know what his name was?"

This man wasn't going to make it easy for her to do that. "Nope." If she took the time to think about it, she probably would, but was of right now, she did not. "Do you like cats Mr. Core?"

"Sometimes. If they're nice cats, but we aren't talking about cats right now, we're talking about your dad."

"I don't want to talk about him."

"I know you don't, but we need to. Can you tell me how he died?"

Exasperated, Emily put down her crayon, "My dad was a Navajo Indian and he taught me how to read. He loved me very much and he died when I was four and I don't remember how and I don't remember his name because sometimes I just don't remember, but Mommy says that's ok."

Officer Core waited, to see if she would say anything more. Emily was waiting also, to see if her little speech would be satisfactory. Apparently it was because he didn't ask her any more questions.

"I'm hungry. Can I get you something to eat? I can make sandwiched by myself. I like to make soup too but Mrs. Curtis says I'm not big enough to use the stove by myself yet."

James really wasn't very hungry, but he still hadn't gotten any helpful answers.

After the sandwiches were eaten and many more questions asked, Emily wanted to know if she couldn't please go back to her room and play. A nod from James prompted Mrs. Curtis to excuse the little girl.

James' brows furrowed together. "Mrs. Curtis, from what you've heard from Emily, would you say she's telling the truth? Does she really have no memory of her father? No idea what happened with her mom?"

"I've never known Emily to lie Mr. Core."

Her answer was defensive and that wasn't what he wanted. "That didn't really come out the way I meant it to, let me rephrase. Has Emily ever talked about her dad before? Said anything at all that you can remember?"

Mrs. Curtis thought hard. "No, no I don't think she's ever mentioned him."

"And she didn't say anything about WHY her mom sent her over this morning?"

"No. She doesn't display much emotion."

James sighed. This was going to take a lot more investigating than he had hoped.


End file.
